I believe that a programmer should be skilled in different programming paradigms i.e should know at least one procedural, one object-oriented and one functional language

Reuse-based software development is an approach to development that tries to maximize the reuse of existing software. The software units that can be reused may be of radically different sizes such as application system reuse, component reuse, object and function reuse etc. I often come across programmers/developers that try to reinvent the wheel when faced with complex software requirements rather than exploring avenues for reuse. A reuse-based approach to software development is not without its drawbacks but the complexity of modern software systems means that software reuse is the best approach that can be used to alleviate this inevitable complexity.

mkwayisi: Go for Oracle, straight up! It's easier to become a software engineer than an Oracle DBA. That's my opinion though.

I think u are missing the point of what exactly software engineering entails. The focus of software engineering is not on specific technologies like oracle or J2EE or .Net but rather on the concepts, processes, methods and tools that are required to plan and develop high quality software. Also i really do not agree with u that it's easier to become a software engineer than an oracle DBA.

Seun: I discovered a very fast and [b]lock-free [/b]inter-process communication method recently: the ring buffer. Fast IPC important in Python because you need multiple processes to take advantage of dual core CPUs.

Hi seun just wondering if python supports the use of threads, as i believe that using threads can be a cheaper way to take advantage of dual core CPUs and cucurrency in general. Although threads do have their drawbacks i will usually consider threads as a first option.

creativeEngr: Nice post. I wish I had found this earlier... Pls how can I get to know more about the Object Constraint Language.

If u wish to know more about OCL just give me your email address and i will send u some beginner material on OCL to get u up to speed.

If u are an object-oriented developer who regularly apply UML for modeling the component-level design of your software u most have realized UML constructs such as class diagrams don't tell the whole story. There is therefore a need for a mechanism for explicitly and formally representing information that constrains some elements of the model. It is possible, of course to describe constraints in natural language such as English, But this approach invariably leads to inconsistency and ambiguity. The object constraint language (OCL) complements UML by allowing a software engineer to use a formal grammar and syntax to construct unambiguous statements about various component-level design elements such as classes and objects, events, messages and interfaces. OCL therefore provides a mechanism that allows a software engineer/developer to introduce rigour and formality to the design of object-oriented software.

mkwayisi: Sorry, I don't mean to be pedantic, but saying C seems to be the language of choice for majority of embedded software development is completely misleading. Even the very core of all mainstream operating systems developed for modern PCs are written in ASM, let alone a device that has few system resources. No one will take his/her chances with the output that the compiler will generate, even though they're getting more intelligent... unless you're writing a hello world program. That doesn't mean C is never used in embedded systems, but the point is you cannot become an *embedded geek* without knowing assembler.

ASM like i said is also fine but it has the disadvantage of being platform specific which hinders portability. Also it requires the programmer to have extensive knowledge of the processor's instruction set which can make the programmer less productive. However some micro-controller C compilers will allow the programmer to insert asm code inline. Also i don't agree with u that its not possible to become an embedded geek without knowing assembler as there are a variety of C compilers and libraries for majority of micro-controllers out there . As i mentioned in my earlier post asm is especially useful when working with micro-controllers that have RISC based processors where u have fewer instructions to learn (about 30 - 35 instructions). But if u are working with CISC processors the need for a higher level language like C will become visibly imperative.

mkwayisi: @harryobas You're sure you don't want to mention assembly language? EEK!

Assembly language is also fine especially for micro-controllers that contain RISC based processors. But C seems to be the language of choice for majority of embedded software development projects.

There are many industries starved of embedded software developers such as Apple, Cisco, ZTE etc. The students graduated from CS or EE major fall into the dilemma that the CS students know nothing about the embedded systems and their most proficient language is JAVA which involved little in embedded systems. On the other hand, The EE students have an amount of knowledge about embedded systems but their programming skill is poor. If you enjoy embedded programming and want to be the member of this industry, Here are Steven’s Four Pieces of Advice for newcomer of embedded programming:

1. Become an expert in C
2. Familiar with embedded systems software architectures
3. Learn to read microcontroller datasheets
4. Practice makes perfect

Dondbuzor: Used d following.....
PIC16f887 micro controller
RF module for my wireless serial transmission
Router
Hyper terminal
Serial port
Mikroe C compiler

Hi am a software engineer and i think your project is very interesting. But i do have some questions about the software aspects of your device as follows:

1. is your program able to run on micro-controllers with similar capabilities and from different manufacturers or just the one you have used?

2. what is the software platform (i.e operating system) of your micro-controller?

3. if your program is only able to run on the micro-controller you have used then is there a way to enhance the portability of the program as this has the added advantage of allowing the program to evolve independently of hardware and can be marketed as a separate product in its own right.

1025: wow, God pls give me the heart of arsenal fans. how can i be a fan of a club for 7 yrs without a plastic spoon to show for it yet i am happy or pretend to be happy?
anyways, my club chelsea is monitoring the development of carzola and january window provides us the opportunity if he continues doing well.
my fear is that his name will soon change from carzola to judas.

Everyone please ignore this uncle he never makes any meaningful contribution about football issues. He is full of beer palour gist.

Many in the field of software development limit their understanding of the field only to technical aspects(i.e analysis, design, code and test).But if u have worked on a proper software project u will quickly realize that non-technical aspects (i.e estimation, scheduling, risk analysis etc) are equally as important. As a software developer i don't believe it is enough to concern yourself with only the technical aspects of software development because a software project is usually populated by stakeholders who expect the developer to be able to come up with reasonable cost and effort estimates, create a flexible development schedule and perform many other other non-technical tasks that directly affect development.

Hi guys, i need a kickass web ui programmer/designer for a webapp project i am currently working on the ideal person should have a good knowledge of html, css and aspx.

A-ZeD:

The service should allow clients view the budget(graphs, chart e.t.c). The plan is to present the budget in such a way that every tomiwa, dike and haruna can understand.
It should also be able to detect duplication between successive budgets(Capital expenditure).
It should also show contracts awarded(cost, duration, company awarded e.t.c)
Futuristic functions
-Value for money e.g Fg spends 2 billion on roads. How long did it take to construct, how may km constructed e.t.c
Extend all functionalities to each state.

Do u require help with project management? I think that since this project is a kind of collaborative development that is likely in involve quite a number of different programmers coming from diverse development cultures, contributing code to the project. I believe it is imperative that a proper project management structure be put in place in order to avoid development chaos and to ensure timely project delivery.

A-ZeD:

The whole project revolves around monitoring the budgets of the Fg(and hopefully each state too). Kobo extracted the data gotten from the budget office website to excel. For now, getting details of goverment spending is not straight forward so we hope to rely on news articles from major papers in Nigeria.
The project is going to be a web service with the budget starting with this year.

Since the project is going to be a web service, i believe it is logical to assume that the project is targeted at developers/programmers who will consume the service from their application. Also what functionality/features will the service provide to its client.

farouqzaib: In concept, it's one of the trade-offs of Test Driven Development. You write tests before you write code for the feature, this in a way forces you to code to your tests.

I totally agree but i think contracts tend to deal with more general cases and unit tests(type of test performed during TTD) deal with more specific cases. I strongly believe that contracts help to write more effective tests since it removes the need to add tedious repetitive tests for invalid arguments. Contracts specify the minimum you can expect from the function, whereas unit tests attempt to validate the actual behaviour for a particular set of inputs.

mj: Pls I dnt mind having a copy of that book, sincerely I most time follow the water model to design my software, and that's all. Pls can you send It to me, thanks. Email: oshadami.mj@gmail.com

The waterfall model is a software process model and Dbc is a software design technique usually applied during component-level design which is a software process workflow so Dbc is process agnostic. Which means u can still follow the waterfall model(adapted to your project off course)and apply Dbc in your design workflow. As for a copy of the book sorry i only have it in hard copy.

Hi guys, i have recently been reading a fantastic book on Dbc (Design by Contract by Example by Richard Mitchell and Jim McKim) which has opened my eyes to the value of contract driven programming (pre-conditions, post-conditions and invariants) and am really surprised by the low number of developers who use design by contract principles to create software. The language used to demonstrate problems in the above mentioned book is Eiffel which is not widely used in development but that should not deter you at all just think of it as a specialized language in which it is easy to represent contracts(the object constraint language (OCL) can also be used to represent contracts). Design by contract is a technique that forces u to think harder and more thoroughly about your programs which is always a benefit. It is not easy to learn but with the above mentioned book the slope of learning curve is substantially flattened.

1025:

i appreciated the timing of ur advise and tot u can do better as the personal adviser to jonathan where ur advise will be useful to nigeria as well as earn u a life instead of wasting ur time and knowledge on some1 who does not need nor value your work.

Am done with u dude, u can keep ranting like a headless chicken for all i care. Its now clear to me and most people on this forum that u are full of gibberish mr i know pass fifa.

@kobojunkie Do u have an idea of the entire project scope? I also believe at this point in the project lifecycle, a baselined application architecture showing the main functional elements(subsystems) of the application, the interfaces exposed by these functional elements and their connectors should be established to guide implementation. Also depending on the size/scope of the project, i think that the application should be delivered in increments through a series of time-boxed iterations.

1025:

hahahahahahahaha mamamamamamamamama kakakakakakakaka wakakakakwkaakamamd akanagdmsoejrn. this is laughing is japanese language. in fact, you have just won for yourself the man of the moment for asking the question of our time.
in answer to ur question, trophy is not football rather football is tossing the ball around the field without ambition. uncle, when u are playing football without scoring, you are like a barren woman that can sleep with all the men in the world with nothing to show for it.
the main objective of every team is to win by scoring more goals and denying their opponents scoring opportunities and at the end of the dey you will use an open bus(like chelsea) to parade your trophies. thanking/rejoicing with ur supporters and showing the world how you went, sent and then conquered. at the end of every tournament, those with the trophy(birmingham) will dance on the podium while those without trophy(arsenal) will leave the seen unnoticed.
uncle, pls for the sake of our unborn children, i am praying for u that u will not run in vain at the end of every race. it does not matter if u say amen to that prayer or not because it is done.
i was listening to a commentator one day in a game between arsenal and chelsea. ball possession as usual was like 65-35 (u and i know who gets what among them in that. but all of sudden, a long pass was thrown to Drogba who touched the first and second with his second touch. the commentator said, AS USUAL, ARSENAL IS DOING THE PLAYING WHILE CHELSEA IS DOING THE SCORING. i want to pray for u again. you shall not do the playing for others to do the scoring. go and sin no more. it is well with u.

Talking gibberish again without making any sense.

1025:

@harryobas,
at local govt levels, state levels and then reuben abati, labrown mako and one other guy at federal level are all earning their livings advising jonathan so why don't u take ur advise to where it will benefit u things. u can even become an adviser to fifa so that u can earn money doing that and at the same time pass on my massage.
left alone, i suggest u keep quiet and make sense rather than talk and make no sense. i am not looking for an adviser and when i do, i will not need ur services.

Bros u are the one claiming to know more than fifa officials with regards to selecting the world best individual player so i believe its only natural that u use your vast knowledge to help fifa.

1025:

am only suggesting you keep quiet because u score more points doing so than talking.

And u score less points talking gibberish mr points allocator right?

1025:

no na man city dey use arsenal as their academy where players are raised.

this is what i called intelligent question but bear with me because am not giving u any answer. sorry about that.

Uncle, i understand. U are just hating abi?

1025:

if u lack what to say, just read and relax. u can end up making more sense keeping quiet than talking.

Uncle i will only stop talking when u stop talking gibberish.

1025:

am sure the author of this article above is not thinking of the other 19 teams in epl not to talk about the champions league. i am really surprised that arsenal fans are rejoicing now that the club is spending. i tot is a crime to spend. anyways, i am happy nobody will have a reason for not winning in the coming season. arsenal has the best set of players in epl now so wenger must show himself or...

If arsenal have the best players in the league what happened to the hot set of players that u clam your beloved chelshit have signed. I mean hazard, miran, oscar or are they no longer hot? afterall in your opinion arsenal have signed players for relegated and troubled clubs and chelshit have signed players for top clubs for a lot of money.

1025:

hahahahahahahahahaha. uncle, i know is a done deal. i am saying man city is already watching the boy. they want to sign him come january from arsenal. u no understand?

Uncle, abeg how and where did u get the information that man city is already watching and want to sign him in january? Na wa for haters o.

1025:

i understand. u made sense praising me but u will be more useless by keeping quiet. we are both saying the same thing.

Uncle, take am easy na we no dey quarrel. But i still think u are wasting your talent on nairaland. Am sure fifa could do with a very knowledgeable person like u.

1025: @HNIC,
arsenal used to be and now chelsea is. the inability for the old champion to understand and accept that a new power has arrived is the in London.
power has changed hands and that is what many have refused to accept.
an arsenal fan was telling me how arsenal players full the euro 2012 on the second day and i told him is usual but how far they will go is what we will wait to see.
Nasri once said their problem in arsenal is that of leadership. why is the captaincy of arsenal about tying a player down? captains are players who have passion for the club and not a means of keeping a player against his will.
van persie wants to leave, let him go and the team as usual will continue with their rebuilding that is taking forever.
it is only a fool that does the same thing and expect a different result.
as long as arsenal is in this character of buying and selling, the results will not change because the team lacks winning mentality as the in thing is profit mentality.

Ok na uncle u win chelsea is the best team ever there no team in the world like chelsea. Hope u are now satisfied

I use bazaar for version control

1025:

u seem to make more sense keeping quiet than when u are talking.

Uncle, abeg no vex. I was just praising your immense knowledge.

1025:

uncle, reading further down the line, you will see this;

[b]Recent revelations made by Catalan radio station, RAC1, could add fuel to the fire that is already burning against Blatter in Spain. It has come to light that Gustavo Cabrera, Captain of Guatemala, did not vote for Xabi Alonso, as stated in the official votings for Ballon d’Or, but instead our very own Xavi. Granted, Cabrera did only choose Xavi as 3rd in his vote, but what happens when they repeat the mistake, but with the winning vote instead? According to Fernando Palomo, from ESPN Deportes, FIFA did exactly that with the vote of Mario Yepes, Captain of Colombia, as he indeed chose Xavi instead of Xabi Alonso as his first pick for the Ballon d’Or.

These mistakes undermine the integrity of both FIFA and the Ballon d’Or, and are downright dangerous for their respective image in football. But at least, it’s not like they forgotten a vote, is it? According to ONA FM, Batista, coach of the Argentine national team, voted for Xavi, Iniesta and Forlan. His vote however, is not visible in their official votes.
[/b]

in all, i am not trying to say who or who shld or shld not win but all i am asking is; WHAT DOES A PLAYER DO TO WIN THIS AWARD?
it may sound funny yet u gave me a good answer which according to u was, I DON'T KNOW.
i waited for years to ask this question so is not about messi. the first time i read about the controversies of winning the award was when cannavaro the italian captain won it. if you don't mind, make ur inquiries and u will agree with me that each time a player wins this award, different reasons for winning comes. this time around, messi must have had 98 goals, 71 hat tricks and all that so u want to know how many goals the italian defender scored and how many hat-tricks he had. other times u will hear that a player is the captain of his side and he took them to win the world cup.
so the curiosity of knowing why different reasons for winning the same award keep popping up every other year.
the corruption in fifa is a topic for another day so let us leave that for now.
in 2008, man u won champions league on penalties and chelsea was on the loosing side but blatter saw nothing wrong in penalties but this year, blatter is thinking of scrapping penalties after many teams have won many trophies on penalty shoot-outs. in tennis, you hardly hear ppl talk about controversies but in football, controversies are the order of the day. what goes on among these compromised men and women in fifa is beyond what we watch on screen.

Wow uncle u seem to know a lot. I think u should apply for a job at FIFA, with u on board i believe that all the controversies of picking the worlds best individual player which u enumerated will be a thing of the past.